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Pondering your request...
Quality Coffee
What makes our coffee quality? Everyone believes their product is of the highest quality, so what!
Well, once you taste our coffees we believe you will see why all these messages are marketting hype.
The coffees we use are the best beans that we are able to source locally. Of course they are all Arabica.
However they are also hand-picked and highland grown and of course are freshly roasted
Why handpicked?
The coffee bean tastes best when it's harvested just ripe (like all other fruit, in fact). This is easy to see as the coffee
cherry is bright red at this stage. The coffee tree ripens unevenly with the same branch having cherries in several stages - with
several sweeps over several months of a hand-picking harvest only ripe coffee is selected; mechanical harvesting or strip
harvesting removes everything at one time
Why highland-grown?
At altitudes above 1500m the tropical climate is more temperate and the bean takes up to three months
longer to mature from flower to ripe fruit: this results in a denser, more tasty coffee that reflects the characteristics
of it's territory.
This makes for a harder bean, as discussed below under Hard Bean.
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Why freshly roasted?
Roasted coffee is normally removed from the roaster in the middle of a chemical reaction. Only if the the coffee is burnt (in our opinion
in the French or Italian style) is the chemical reaction complete. Part of the
reaction is to release gasses. This means that our coffees (and any fresh coffee) cannot be placed in a vacuum seal (either in a tin, or foil) as the proceess carries on. Typically fresh roasted coffee should be drunk within 2 days, but we find it is more pratical to aim for about 2 weeks.
We will only supply you coffee that you will consume in 2 weeks. We try and ensure that you understand your consumption so that you can always get
as close to the original freshly roasted taste as possible
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Guarantee
In blind tastings we have found 98 out of 100 people prefer the coffees we source. We have just under
20 coffees typically, and we will guarantee to find you one that you like, otherwise your money back
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Arabica Varieties
Man has been directly or indirectly modifying the coffee bean since it was first smuggled out
of the Yemen into Mysore India, and then taken back to Europe in the 1600's. This has resulted in a
large number or arabica varieties, that either developed naturally by a becoming ingrown like bourbon
or by being exposed to similar plants like Robusta or Liberica trees.
The direct process was driven by a need to allow coffee trees to grow in areas that made them susceptible
to disease like coffee rust. The coffee market is now dominated by these varities today, there are over 40
varieties now, of which the purest is "typica".
The closer the arabica variety is to the typica (the original Arabica from Ethiopia) the more
flavoursome it is, and the harder it is to grow.
Arabica typica needs to be grown under a forest canopy,
and typically at an altitude of over 1,600m and in a temperate climate, otherwise coffee rust develops preventing
the tree to fruit, and even destroying the tree it self.
Read more here:
Arabica Varieties I have found so far...
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Well known arabica varities:
| varietal |
Notes |
| typica |
The original coffee found in Ethiopia, then grown in the Yemen originally, was
smuggled to India where it was planted in Mysore area, where the Dutch traded and was then
taken back to Holland |
| bourbon |
Developed when the Arabica typica from India was kept in green houses in France
and Spain, and was used as a source plant in South America, when the Spanish and Portugese
started colonizing South Americas |
| caturra |
A higher yielding mutation of borbon, but has lost favour with mass produces since the 70's |
| mundo nuvo |
A mutation between typica and borbon, that is more resistant, but fruits slower than the more
popular varieties. Mainly produced in Brasil |
| catuai |
A hybrid between of caturra and mundo nuvo made at The Institute of Agronomy, Campinas,
Brazil in 1949. Most popular varietal with leading Italian blends |
There are over 40 Arabica types, and over 146 accesssions:. You can click to read more
information of the varieties of arabica that is maintained by
coffee DNA
Note: Kopi luwak is not a coffee variety but rather a method of processing the beans,
that is quite similar to the wet processing method. We keep away from animal or environmental abuse as a
standard, and since there is almost no Kopi Luwak harvested naturally any more, the only Indonesian coffee
we do is Mandheling, which is a wet processed highland grown coffee
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Growing countries
All Arabica typica and close variants grown between the troical lines of Cancer and Capricorn.
There is a general table of producers that was posted on the National Geographic article, that can be
read here.
Normally what prevents a country from producing specialty grade coffee is the coffee
association that is in place in that country. Experience shows that specialty grade is achieved by:
- being grown in hard bean or strictly hard been height
- being shade grown
- being as close to pure varietal as possible
- specific terrior growth
We only use speciality grade coffee so we only source from growers specializing in this type of coffee?
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The table below is a summary, of countries we have tasted specialty grade coffees from,
or are aware that they produce specialty grade coffees:
| Area |
Countries |
| Africa |
Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, Rwanda, Uganda, Zambia, Zimbabwe |
| Atlantic Islands |
Jamaica, Dominican Republic, Haiti, Puerto Rico |
| Central America |
Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Panama |
| Indian Ocean |
India, Yemen |
| Pacific |
East Timor, Hawaii, Java, Papua New Guinea, Sumatra |
| South America |
Bolivia, Brazil, Columbia, Peru |
Besides the countries the regions are important. For coffee to be strictly hard
bean, it must grow in the highland forested areas for the countries listed.
Specialty coffees are either strictly hard bean or pea berry
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Further Reading
There are many sources to find more about the countries and famous specialty coffees that come
from these countries. The Sources we most often reference are: Kenneth David's Coffee; and Mark Pendergrast's
Uncommon Grounds |
Grading
Coffee beans are graded according to a visual, aromatic or taste characteristics.
The visual tests determine: screen size, defects
Grading is performed after the processing of the green bean. This is followed by a local roast and
cupping assessment. Typically grading is performed at least 4 times
before it is classed as a specialty or grade 1 coffee. Once it is graded it if the cupping is special
and the supply is limited, you can get the coffee allocated to a micro lot, where a particular
roaster will sell it as a once off.
The table is directly from the SCAA grading.
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| Grade |
Description |
| 1 |
Specialty Grade Coffee Beans:
no primary defects, 0-3 full defects,
sorted with a maximum of 5% above and 5% below specified screen size or range of
screen size, and exhibiting a distinct attribute in one or more of the following
areas: taste, acidity, body, or aroma. Also must be free of cup faults and taints.
Zero quakers allowed. Moisture content between 9-13%. |
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Premium Grade Coffee Beans: Same as Grade 1 except maximum of 3 quakers. 0-8 full defects. |
| 3 |
Exchange Grade Coffee Beans: 50% above screen 15 and less than 5% below screen 15.
Max of 5 quakers. Must be free from faults. 9-23 full defects. |
| 4 |
Standard Grade Coffee Beans: 24-86 full defects. |
| 5 |
Off Grade Coffee Beans: More than 86 full defects. |
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Sizing
The size a bean is determined by its size. The largest size of a crop is "AAA". When the beans
are extracted from the pulp they are graded according to their size. The smallest size is
The grade of a bean is determined by its size. The largest size of a crop is "AAA". When the beans
are extracted from the pulp they are graded according to their size. The smallest size is
The Sizing is particular to where the coffee comes from, and is detstined too, so what here is a summary:
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Sizing table
| screen size (mm) |
Classification |
Size Grade |
Other names for Size Grade |
| > 8 |
Extra Large |
AAA |
Supereme, Premier |
| 7 > 8 |
Very Large |
AA |
Superior,Supremo, 1st Flats |
| 6.5 >= 7 |
Large |
A |
Bold bean,Segundas |
| 6 >= 6.5 |
Medium |
B |
Primera, Excelso, 2nd flats |
| 5.25 >= 6 |
Small |
C |
Terceras, small bean, 3rd flats |
| 4.5 >= 5.25 |
Shells |
*PB |
Caracol, Perl, 1st Peaberries |
| 4.5 >= 5.25 |
Caracoli, Perl, 2nd Peaberries |
| 3.5 >= 4.5 |
Caracollio, Perl, 3rd Peaberries |
*Peaberry size is category thatn means
that the coffee fruit produced only one complete seed, rather than the typical seeds with
two halves
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Hard Bean
Besides the number of now common varieties of Arabica, there is also consideration on
at what height the Arabica is grown. All specialty grade coffee must be shade and highland grown, this means it is
at least hard bean. Harder beans have a more intense taste.
The higher the bean is grown the less oxygen it is exposed to. This means that
the fruit (and hence the seed) takes longer to mature.
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Depending on the height above sea level a bean is grown it is classified as below
(m = metres):
- Strictly Hard Bean: above 1,600 m
- Hard Bean: 1,350 to 1,600m
- Semi Hard Bean: 1,200 to 1,350m
- Extra Prime Washed: 1,000 to 1,200m
- Prime Washed: above 600m below 1,000
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